Chapter 4 The Living Dead

  Su Tong was stunned outside the elevator, feeling that the man's words were a bit nonsensical. Although he claimed to be his neighbor, in reality they had never met before and had no interaction with each other. Suddenly popping out with "This kind of place, it's best not to come alone" was truly inexplicable.

  Su Tong shrugged, not taking it seriously. The other person's appearance was indeed handsome and stylish, but who said that in this world there couldn't be someone with a handsome face but not quite right in the head? Maybe she just happened to run into one. If she were to meet this person again in the future, she would have to pay more attention. Although she reminded herself not to mind, Su Tong couldn't help but try to recall her impression of her neighbor. After thinking for a while, she finally gave up - she had lived here for three years, but except for occasionally hearing the sound of her neighbor opening and closing the door, she didn't have any other impressions. Plus, she was busy with work and often didn't come home on time, so she really didn't have any concept of what kind of family her neighbors were.

  Su Tong quickly found the department she was looking for, thanks to the nurse's previous directions. She entered through a side door from the therapy area corridor, just as a middle-aged woman in a nurse's uniform walked by with a cup of water. The woman was startled when she saw Su Tong and almost spilled the water, her tone not very friendly when asking about Su Tong's identity and purpose. Luckily, Su Tong quickly showed her press card and explained her intentions, and after sizing her up for a while, the woman relaxed slightly and introduced herself as the head nurse of the department. However, she told Su Tong that finding the doctor in charge was not enough to see the comatose children, and she would also need to get approval from the department director.

  "How did you get up from over there? Who told you to take that elevator?" the head nurse asked Su Tong.

  "It was when I came that the nurse at the outpatient department told me, saying that there are fewer people on this side, and it might be faster to come up." Su Tong didn't quite understand why the head nurse would be so interested in this matter.

  The head nurse's brow furrowed as soon as Su Tong said that, and she subconsciously shook her head: "This is nonsense! Nowadays these young people don't know whether they're not paying attention or just don't care about anything! When you go back, don't take the elevator on that side. From the therapy area's main entrance, it's just the elevator room, and it won't take much time. There are six elevators, how can you still not get a turn going downstairs? Isn't that right?"

  "Yes, you're right," Su Tong humbly accepted the other's suggestion and couldn't help but feel even more curious about the head nurse's attitude. "One of the two elevators on that side is broken, and the other one is actually working properly. Why doesn't anyone use it? It's a waste of resources to leave it idle."

  "Because of that..." The head nurse's eyes flickered for a moment, and she gave Su Tong a somewhat perfunctory smile. "There was an accident with the elevator on that side before, and someone got hurt, so people in our hospital don't want to use it."

  This reason is not unreasonable, but it sounds a bit far-fetched. Su Tong could feel that the head nurse didn't want to discuss the two elevators with her, so she simply started asking about serious matters: "Head Nurse, after those seven children were sent over here, have there been any signs of improvement?"

  "Ugh, just mentioning this makes me anxious. Those seven kids have been here since they were sent over and there's no sign of improvement or deterioration, they're just stuck in that state. We've done numerous tests but nothing has come out, they just won't wake up. There's nothing we can do except give them fluids on schedule to keep their electrolytes balanced, hoping for some sign of waking up soon." The nurse let out a long sigh and said to Su Tong with a pleading tone, "If our director agrees to let you see those kids, I don't ask you to speak well of us or anything, just be objective when reporting on this. Half of the doctors and nurses in our department have children at home, we can put ourselves in their shoes, seeing those seven kids like that is heart-wrenching for all of us. Yesterday evening two parents came and were so anxious they grabbed our director's collar saying we're not doing anything and want to expose us on TV. We understand the parents' feelings but you should also understand ours, we're really doing our best here. At night, just for those seven kids' ward, we have two nurses on duty taking care of them... sigh..."

  "I understand what you're saying." Su Tong nodded, trying to maintain an objective attitude, which was a principle she had always adhered to. Although the head nurse's words sounded reasonable and made her feel that it wasn't easy, without understanding the situation, she didn't want to make any comments on this matter. She only hoped that the department director would approve her request to see those seven children.

  The head nurse left her at the nurse station to help find the department director to ask if she could accept an interview. Su Tong saw that the nurses in the nurse station were busy preparing medicine and didn't want to disturb them, so she stood aside thinking about her own things. Her thoughts jumped around, not knowing what to do, and suddenly jumped back to the thing that happened when she was taking the elevator just now.

  I was just standing in the elevator lobby waiting for the elevator, which was coming down from upstairs. I was on the first floor, which is the lowest level. The man who claimed to be my neighbor was originally inside the elevator, but when the doors opened, he didn't get out and instead followed me back into the elevator to go upstairs again. Upon further recollection, I remember that I needed to go to the 8th floor, so the man pressed the button for the 8th floor. After the elevator reached the 8th floor, it went back down. Doesn't this mean that he accompanied me all the way up and then back down?

  Why? Is it because he's his neighbor? But didn't he only recognize him after he got on the elevator? At first, they were just ordinary strangers. What was that man's purpose in doing so? The more Su Teng thought about it, the more confused he became, feeling that the man was mysterious and eerie, making his heart feel a little creepy.

  Not long after, the head nurse brought over the director of the pediatric department. The director was not young either, looking like he would be retiring in three to five years. He nodded at Su Tong with a worried expression, as if greeting her, then said: "You've come about this matter, the head nurse just told me about it earlier. Personally, I don't accept this interview, but I can introduce you to the current situation. Later when you do your report, please don't mention me, at my age, I don't want to be a topic of conversation, I hope you understand."

  Su Tong hastily expressed his agreement, after all, whether to accept an interview in the name of a personal capacity is also the freedom and power of the person being interviewed, and cannot be forced. Moreover, for her, the most important thing at present is still to figure out what happened to those few children.

  "The situation of these seven children can be said to be extremely special. I have been a doctor for decades, and until now, I have never seen such a precedent." The department director introduced the situation to Su Tong, "After the school sent them over here, we first conducted a thorough physical examination on the seven children. We didn't find any external injuries, and further examination also ruled out internal injuries such as organ damage, and there was no head trauma either. Except for two relatively unusual characteristics, all other conditions were good, and they were no different from normal healthy children."

  "What are these two unusual things?" Su Tong asked in a hurry, as the department head was unwilling to accept the recorder pen's interview, she had to quickly take down the information mentioned by the other party with a small notebook.

  "The department head glanced around and, seeing no other patient family members nearby, lowered his voice to say: 'Those seven children's heart rates have all slowed down to an extremely slow rate, a rate that is unimaginable for normal people. Their body temperatures have also dropped significantly. I can't explain why this is happening; it defies medical common sense. But this is the current situation, and we can't provide a reasonable explanation. You know, our hospital is the only top-level hospital in the city. If even we can't make a diagnosis, it will be even more difficult elsewhere. Given the children's current condition, it wouldn't be safe to send them away for examination and treatment without careful consideration. We've done all the necessary tests and consultations here, but we still can't find a reasonable explanation. The families are unhappy, which is also very difficult for us. All we can do is try to get the families' consent to keep the children in the hospital for observation for a while longer. If the family doesn't agree, we can't force them; we'll allow them to transfer the child to another hospital if they wish. That's all I can tell you for now.'"

  "What can be said about the current situation of these seven children?"

  The department head fell silent for a moment, then said in a low tone: "A living dead man."

  "Then, can I go take a look at those kids?" Su Tong asked tentatively.

  The department head hesitated for a moment, considering it before agreeing to let Su Tong in. He also cautiously raised a condition: "I can let you take a look, but the parents have already mentioned this to our hospital, if there are any media interviews, no photos or videos are allowed, after all these children are still young, and their parents don't want them to be over-exposed, can you do that?"

  Su Tong hastily nodded, indicating that she had not brought any photography equipment and would strictly follow the requirements put forward by the parents of the children. The department director saw her sincere attitude and only then agreed to take her to the ward where the children were being treated.